1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of collection devices tailored to receive predefined items, and more specifically to an eyewear receptacle for collecting three-dimensional (3-D) eyewear selection devices returned by audience members as they exit a movie theater.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many of today's movie theaters currently exhibit films capable of rendering a three-dimensional (3-D) viewing experience. For audience members to properly view current projected stereoscopic motion pictures, each member must wear a selection device such as 3-D eyewear, also known as 3-D glasses. Movie theaters provide or ‘hand-out’ pairs of 3-D glasses to each audience member prior to viewing stereoscopic content such as films, movies, and images. The 3-D glasses currently provided by movie theaters are generally considered ‘single-use-only’ items. At the end of viewing the film, audience members typically dispose of each pair of 3-D glasses either by taking them home for storage in, for example, a drawer, or placing them into a receptacle such as a common trash container or barrel.
A major commercial problem with regard to providing ‘single-use-only’ 3-D glasses is the cost to continually provide new pairs of 3-D glasses to each audience member before viewing films containing stereoscopic content. As the number of stereoscopic films produced and distributed by studios each year continues to increase, so will the quantities of 3-D glasses distributed by theaters to their viewing audience members. It currently remains commonplace for movie theater operators to operate without requesting audience members to return the eyewear after viewing a stereoscopic film. The lack of an ongoing collection practice and mechanism by movie theater operators remains as a major contributor to lost inventory and increased costs of distribution.
A limited number of today's movie theater operators have put into place a collection practice and mechanism allowing audience members to return their 3-D glasses. However, these practices and mechanisms continue to experience a relatively high rate of inventory loss. For example, certain collection practices do not openly and outwardly direct audience members to return their glasses after use. Today's collection devices typically are unremarkable looking, and at times may resemble trash containers positioned in areas where audience members typically expect trash containers to be found. The appearance of today's collection devices does not provide sufficient awareness or indication to the viewing audience of the ability to return the 3-D glasses to the theater.
The ornamentation and physical placement associated with today's deployed collection devices leads to one of two common results: either the audience member is completely unaware that eyewear is being collected, or the audience member is aware that eyewear is being collected but does not see the receptacle designated for eyewear collection, possibly confusing the eyewear collector for a trash receptacle. Some audience members may have actually disposed of trash in the container intended to collect the eyewear. The result is recycled eyewear commingling with trash and other debris. At additional expense, movie theater operators must either separate the eyewear from the trash and debris or lose this inventory as unsalvageable. In addition, when collected eyewear comes in contact with trash and debris, the eyewear can quite easily become damaged, further contributing to the rate of inventory shrinkage. Lack of audience awareness and mistaken identification of the current class of collection devices significantly contribute to 3-D glasses being lost unnecessarily. Inventory losses experienced with today's uncollected or unreturned 3-D glasses increase the overall 3-D eyewear inventory costs borne by the parties contracted to distribute the eyewear.
The effects of the lack of a suitable collection device, lack of audience member awareness, mistaken collection device identity, and/or damage resulting from glasses commingled with trash and debris contribute to an increased rate of inventory shrinkage of 3-D glasses.
Based on the foregoing, it would be advantageous to provide an eyewear collection solution for use in aggregating used 3-D selection devices returned by audience members that overcome the foregoing drawbacks present in previously known designs used in movie theaters exhibiting stereoscopic films.